OAKLAND — Co-owner Joe Lacob has yet to render his decision, but the consensus being whispered in NBA circles is the relationship between Mark Jackson and Warriors management may be unsalvageable at this point.

If so, that’s a shame. And it’s a black eye for a Warriors management that has done well to this point. Because, once again, stability would be sacrificed on the altar of ego.

The solution is simple, for grown-ups anyway. Not easy, by any means. But simple: Get in a room, work out the differences and move forward.

They have a locker room of players wishing they would. They have a legion of fans hoping they do.

Somehow, though, there seems to be too much char to save the toast. It seems there isn’t enough humility and accountability between the head coach and management to see something special is brewing, to overcome personality clashes and their own respective weaknesses.

Somebody call Oprah Winfrey to come mediate this mess. Hurry, before she buys the Clippers.

The claim is that winning is the priority. The talking point is that a championship is the goal. But it sure seems like style and preference, pride and perceptions, reign supreme. And all parties left their fingerprints at the crime scene.

If the results on the court suffer, if these last two years turn out to be a coffee break from the futility this franchise is known for, Lacob, Jackson and general manager Bob Myers should be prosecuted together. Maybe it’s just inexperience, on all ends. The smart money is on selfishness, though.

Jackson has to eat some blame for the drama on his coaching staff, whether for hiring bad seeds or creating a dysfunctional environment.

He also is failing at the time-honored tradition of pleasing the people who sign the checks. His stubbornness about the way he operates — from sticking with an isolation-heavy offense to his unwillingness to accept input on his coaching staff — clashed with the appeasement management expected. His skepticism about the intentions of others, some of it reasonable, and his defensiveness in the face of criticism, fueled the chasm. His religiosity added another level of discomfort.

Still, the larger share of blame would fall on management. Because if Lacob does let Jackson go, it’s he and Myers and the basketball operations staff who would have to explain why this is not same ol’ Warriors stuff.

If they move on and don’t nail Jackson’s predecessor, they’ll be responsible for justifying why they walked away from what was working. If players like Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson lose faith in management, or this franchise again starts looking like a place free agents don’t want to come to, it will be because Lacob and Myers allowed it to come to this.

No, they didn’t give Jackson his weaknesses. But just as Jackson is responsible for his locker room, management is responsible for the team.

Maybe they gave him too much control to begin with. Or didn’t give him the love and support he needed. Or didn’t have a game plan for grooming him as a coach, a la Pat Riley with Erik Spoelstra. Or saw things going awry and weren’t aggressive enough about fixing it, choosing to let it play out through anonymous sources.

Either way, 98 wins and two playoff appearances in two years is the kind of success not known around these parts since Chris Mullin was running off screens. And no matter the reason for such success ending, the buck ultimately stops up top.

“That’s why I’m so adamant,” Curry said about wanting Jackson back. “I remember what it was like before he got here. I remember what it felt like coming to practice when we were a losing team.”

If it isn’t clear by now, after the Warriors gave the Clippers all they could handle even without starting center Andrew Bogut, Jackson has something special about him as a coach. Logic says work to fix his weaknesses instead of starting over. It would be a shame if the playoff streak has to end because of office politics.

Obviously, Lacob could decide Jackson is not the coach to get this team to the next level. He could then go and land the coach who makes the Warriors a legit title contender. Possible.

But what’s the better bet: Jackson and management working out their kinks and building on what they’ve got going? Or starting completely over with a new coach and new system and it all working out seamlessly?

The lot of them just needs to make the commitment to fix it. Jackson and management. Get in a room and come to an agreement that the best solution is for them to work this out instead of squandering the strides they’ve made. Then put everything on the table — salary figures, assistant coach suggestions, offensive system, roster moves, feelings and slights, poker-face lessons for Lacob — and get it done.

Marcus Thompson is a former sports columnist for the Bay News Group and author of "Golden: The Miraculous Rise of Steph Curry." After 10 years as an NBA beat writer, he is a leading voice on the Golden State Warriors. An Oakland native, he gives us a relevant voice in the East Bay. He's been with the organization since 1999.